Danielle Bradbery may look like a sweet, unassuming 16-year-old, but that didn’t stop her from dominating Season 4 of The Voice.

The 16-year-old from Cypresss, TX, used a combination of powerhouse vocals and highly strategic song choices to repeatedly crack the iTunes Top 10 singles chart on her way to victory. And while she considered the idea of veering outside her country wheelhouse, Danielle says her coach Blake Shelton discouraged her from doing anything that might slow her runaway momentum.

TVLine also got Danielle to discuss the accusations that her appearance at a Scotty McCreery concert contradicted her story of having no prior public singing experience; dish what it felt like to sing a love duet with Blake during the Live Finals; and explain her approach to songs that deal with emotions and situations beyond her tender age.

So press play below for the inside scoop on Danielle’s Season 4 experience, and follow me on Twitter for all my reality TV news, interviews, commentary and recaps!Follow @MichaelSlezakTV

Just because she didn’t seem like his favourite doesn’t mean that he has to be rude or conduct a bad interview. I appreciate the fact that he is a professional when it comes to interviews I’ve read with other contestants. This was a great interview as well.
While she wasn’t my absolute favourite, I do enjoy her voice and I really think with time she might be The Voice’s first real star. I really don’t see her ever becoming like Lindsay Lohan or Amanda Bynes, but then again I never ever expected Amanda Bynes to go on this downward spiral. We shall see.

What a delightful kid! Sixteen going on a giggly 25. I love the way her hands move as she talks. It won’t be easy, but I think she’ll be OK, no matter what happens. I predict that voice will take her far. Thanks for the interview, Michael!!

Wonderful interview! So refreshing and gratifying to see such a nice, supremely talented young person achieving success. Danielle’s voice is one of incredible power, clarity, and ringing musicality. Her perfect diction and ability to convey the emotion in a song will make her a songwriter’s favorite. Clearly, she’s received a lot of love and support from her family.
Her parents must be so proud! Living in the Nashville area, I’ve seen lots of really talented people perform. Danielle has talent at a superstar level, and I look forward to buying her records. Hope she never changes her sweet persona!

Her speaking voice and wise but innocent vibe remind me of how Lindsay Lohan seemed before her parental drama took her off the rails. Seriously, picture her with red hair, she’s that naïve girl at the beginning of Mean Girls. Hopefully she keeps that.

I’m pretty sure that they kept the audience waiting on Monday night after the live show and taped (some of?) the guest performances then. I know because as a Michelle fan, I was disappointed to see that she barely gave any post-show interviews, whereas the other two acts gave tons. So I would bet that she was off performing with OneRepublic (which was definitely pretaped) and Danielle performed later that night.

Thanks Michael, this was an unexpected pleasure.
I hope Danielle gets the support that Haley “flippin” Reinhart should have gotten from her label.
The only way in which I will compare Danielle to Haley is in that they are both one of a kind talents. Haley is awesome, and the 500 plus times I have listened to listen up, as well as all her Idol performances, I never grow tired of her. I now have Danielle’s complete collection and have added it to my complete Reinhart collection, and yes, I listen to the two of them all day long.
You and others who are not fans of the country music genre will probably not understand why many country music fans (by the way, I am a music fan, and enjoy nearly all genre’s) myself included, can be so excited about Danielle. I’m not saying Danielle is the next Taylor Swift, or the next Carrie Underwood, or the next Martina McBride or Sara Evans, because she isn’t. Yes she can do a decent cover of a song by any of these ladies, but her voice is pure, and when she learns how to use it, it will be powerful as well. Her duet with Hunter Hayes was just a brief little glimpse into what she will become. Carrie was tentative on stage at first, but a year later she was a force to be reckoned with. One year from now, I believe we will be talking about The Voice’s most successful winner, and that will be Danielle.
Thanks again for the video interview, it was awesome and appreciated.

It was a terrific interview. I think Danielle is an awesome talent and Michael seems to acknowledge that in this interview and the short article above it. He specifically mentioned all of the songs, including the duets, where Danielle really excelled and asked her about them. Danielle is also very unaffected and probably smarter than people think. She’s a deserving winner in my book.

From a kid coming from singing in her bedroom, she got enough people to vote for her over some other talented contestants. So yeah, I’d say there’s a decent amount of people that like her. Whether these are the kinds of people that post on internet message boards is another matter…

Michael’s interviews with Voice contestants don’t get as many comments as the interviews with American Idol contestants, but I think that soon they will become more popular. Also, I know for a fact that Danielle has more than 20 fans, unless each one of them has 100,000 email and iTunes accounts.

This is an Idol crowd. The comments on YouTube are much more. And this girl sold 470 000 downloads during her run. And that’s not counting her album which was #4 on iTunes for a week. This girl is special for sure.

How refreshing. Danielle is really nice. I just love her singing. Hopefully, she does not become a Lohan, Bynes, Bieber or even Leann Rimes. This business is brutal. I would love to see a Swon Brothers video interview. Michelle video interview?

Michael….don’t take this the wrong way…but I will start cutting things if I don’t see a Michelle and Amber interview >:(
After reading the interview article with Michelle for Rolling Stone…I WANT TO SEE AN INTERVIEW. And I know you wanna give her the bouquet of the season

I would like to see a video interview with Michelle and the Swons. Do you think Michael will do it? I just only watch this season from the live rounds to the finale. I really followed Michelle, Amber and Danielle. Michelle was my favorite. I like her saying great things about the other people on the show. Thank you.

I like her so much better after this interview. It may be that Michael Slezak is my favorite journalist ever, but she is so much more likable after this. Now interview Amber Carrington and I will be ecstatic.

PLEASE TELL ME THAT YOU HAVE A VIDEO INTERVIEW OF MICHELLE READY TO UPLOAD. PLEASE. I’m holding out hope just because of the jump from Sasha to Danielle. If Danielle was the only video interview he did, then it would make sense to save that for last, so….(of course, maybe he was just able to get a hold of Danielle before the other three because of her current press circus, but GAH)

I thought she was a good winner. I see a lot of similarities between her and Carrie. That was my first year of AI. I had thought Bo should have won, but also liked Carrie. This year I leaned towards Michelle but also liked Danielle.
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I also think she’s the first kid since Allison on AI a few years ago who really kicked some tail. Jessica was good last year, but Danielle raised the bar some.
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Like some others, I think Danielle will be the Voice’s first break through hit. If she keeps her head on straight, I see big things in her future.

Not trying to start an argument but I can’t say I agree with you that Danielle raised the bar higher than jessica.
First and foremost, Jessica could with ease sing laps around Danielle. And I think that Danielle could do better if she took time to look at how jessica performed songs.
Emotional disconnect? Yes it was evident at times but the thing with Jessica is that even when she wasn’t genuinely connecting she still recognized what kind of connection she needed to establish and at least did what she could by facially showing the direction she wanted to go. Jessica is more invested in her singing when she sings so… that’s my analysis

Jessica was my favorite, and I wanted her to win.
As far as her singing laps around Danielle, well, we will have to disagree on that. Jessica sings most of her songs using vocal gymnastics, up and down, with a multitude of power notes, and she can belt them out with the best of them. In that respect, Jessica outshines Danielle. On the other hand, Danielle sings with a purity, and a smooth transition from down to up, so smooth you barely even notice she is doing a run, and her power notes are crystal clear but eloquently understated. She is far more subtle in her singing, while Jessica is all about the power. Both fit their chosen genre very well.
Comparing Jessica to Danielle is sort of like comparing Whitney to Martina McBride. You can’t compare them, and they both sing beautifully.

Listen to Sanchez sing “you are so beautiful”. Some vocal gymnastics are in it but for the most part she’s simply flat out singing with no other gimmick aside from her vibrato. She hits notes with ease just as well as Danielle, if not better.

That’s a good suggestion. OTOH, I suggested on the top 25 performances thread that folks check out Danielle’s studio version of “Put Your Records On.” It might blow your mind or at least change your view of Danielle’s adaptability to songs outside her wheelhouse. The battle with Caroline Glaser on that song was actually the coolest duet of the season imo (although Danielle and Amber was a close second). Danielle and Caroline both sounded magnificent.

I feel like one of the few michelle fans that had no vendetta against Danielle. I actually liked her though I didn’t want her to win lol.
I can’t like jessica and hate Danielle cause frankly they’re both two of the strongest young vocalists we’ve got at this point in time. Though my personal preferences sway to jessica.
I loved put your records on ;o

Hi Kaba- No problem. Not everyone agrees w/ everything or everyone. You’re always respectful in your comments. I get the world doesn’t see things like I do.
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I thought the top 7 of AI last year and the top 8 of the Voice this year were all pretty good. If any 2 of the 15 had won, I’d have been fine. I was leaning a bit towards Michelle this year. Sorta like I leaned a bit towards Bo way back when but felt Carrie was also a good choice. That’s kind of my take on Danielle this year.
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I was just reflecting back on who I thought were the best under 18’s on any of these shows. Ironically I thought Jessica would have been a good winner last year on AI, so I don’t think she’s terrible by any means. I just think Danielle and Allison are the best kids that I’ve seen. Jessica I’d have a notch below. There was an opera singer on a show a few years ago who was pretty good too. I’m not recalling her name though.
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I hope your summer is a great one. Take care.

The McCreary accusations are so SMALL MINDED of some people to hurl. THAT performance was AFTER Ms. Bradbery got accepted onto ‘THE VOICE’, not before.
Besides, the video, like all those other ‘early’ videos are posted by her family or friends. You can see that from the ‘uploader’ name. You can even see her family and friends standing there on the grass at the festival supporting her as the camera pans around. THEY know she got ‘pipes’ but few others in the audience were expecting any ‘pro’ performance from a mere kid, being used by the roadies as a ‘sound check’ performer more than anything else though, you can see them giving her their attention and admiration later as she sang on.

All 17 and under kids should go to The Voice instead of Idol by the way. I love how there is no throwing under the bus. Every contestant is cared for by at least someone. I don’t mind that no one is highly criticized. If you don’t like a performance, then you won’t vote for it and you won’t buy it on iTunes. But the fact that no one get humiliated on national TV feel so refreshing. With the high rate of suicide and depression, kids like Charlie Askwew and Lazaro should have a place they can audition and show their talent without the fear of ridicule.

After Danielle’s Voice Collection album peaked at #19 on Billboards top 200 albums all genre chart last week with 18,000 sold, she dropped to #102 this week with 4,000 sold. She is currently #81 on Itunes top 200 albums, and #15 on itunes top 100 country.

Danielle has a new single called “The Heart Of Dixie” that will be released on July 16th, a short 12 days from now. She will be appearing on The Today Show on July 17th to perform, presumably her new single.

I can’t wait for her debut single. It seems Big Machine isn’t wasting any time getting Danielle’s new song on the market. I’m looking forward to hearing and buying it.